A three-member review panel of the apex court chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat allowed A Francis’s application under the Revision of the Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023.

The panel, which included Justices Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Nordin Hassan, ordered the jail term of Francis, 53, to begin on Aug 26, 1994.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) How May Ling opposed Francis’s application and proposed that the death penalty be maintained.

She said the applicant had sacrificed a human life to achieve his personal desires.

“The act was gruesome, brutal and savage and was in a different league compared to other murder cases,” said How, who was assisted by DPP Ng Siew Wee.

Francis’s lawyer, Abdul Rashid Ismail, said the murder was not an act of terrorism and only involved a single victim.

“It is neither a rarest of rare cases, nor is it extraordinary,” he said.

Judges are now given the option to impose the death sentence or a maximum jail term of up to 40 years for murder.

Francis committed the offence on Ali Ahammed Ullah at the Kim Swee Leong oil palm plantation located along the Kuala Lumpur-Kuantan-Mentakab trunk road between 9pm and 11pm on Aug 19, 1994.

The High Court in Temerloh found him guilty and sentenced him to death on Oct 21, 1996. The verdict was affirmed by the Court of Appeal on Sept 18, 2002.

Francis, whose final appeal saw several legal principles in criminal law established, failed to get the Federal Court to overturn his conviction and sentence when it was heard on March 21, 2005.

According to the facts of the case, Francis, then aged 23, committed the offence on the advice of a bomoh as part of a ritual.

Before the act, he plied Ali with alcoholic drinks until he became unconscious. He then struck the victim’s neck twice with a parang.